Dutch based charity Cordaid teamed up with sportswear brand Jako, creative agency Fitzroy and football artist Piro to create and promote the ‘Qatar Mourning Band’: a wearable symbol of support for the Netherlands national team at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup that also highlights human rights abuses and inhuman working conditions for those constructing Qatar 2022’s stadiums and facilities.
The band itself features the names of workers – from countries such as Bangladesh, India and Pakistan – who have died in Qatar since 2010: the year that the gulf state won a ballot of FIFA’s 22 executive members which was mired in accusations of bribery and corruption.
Cordaid and Jako worked with designer Barry Pirovano (aka ‘Piro’) – who is best known in The Netherlands as the designer of the official Eredivisie ball – to produce 6,500 mourning bands: one for each migrant construction worker to tragically die in Qatar since 2010.
The non-profit, emergency relief organisation – which is based in The Hague – worked with agency and artists to create, promote awareness and drive sales of the band through an integrated, digital-first and PR campaign.
The initiative launch statement from Cordaid said: “By wearing the Qatar mourning band, Dutch fans can show that ‘while we support the Oranje, we also reflect on so much suffering and great inequality in the world and remind us of the people who left their home countries to work as construction workers in Qatar and paid for it with death”.
Cordaid lanceert Qatar-rouwband
Met het dragen van de Qatar-rouwband laat je zien dat je Oranje steunt, maar ook stilstaat bij leed en ongelijkheid in de wereld.
Bestel de Qatar rouwband op https://t.co/ifDOGKiIZR#fixthesystems #Qatar #rouwband #WK #Cordaid pic.twitter.com/IObVp8luSr
— Cordaid (@Cordaid) November 3, 2022
The Qatar Mourning Band is available for online ordering only in the Netherlands and costs €9.95.
Comment
The upcoming 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, which starts on 20 November, has long been in the spotlight amidst allegation of corruption and human rights abuses. Indeed, UK newspaper The Guardian reported that as many as 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since it won the right to host the tournament in 2010.
According to a recent opinion panel by Dutch news programme EenVandaag, only 25% of national team fans say that they are ‘looking forward to the World Cup’.
Cordaid is a Dutch headquartered, internationally operating value-based development and emergency relief charity – working in and on fragility. Its mission is to ‘make the world a fairer place’.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.